Dinner with Kageyamas
by RedHatMeg
Summary: After much consideration, Reigen meets Mob's parents.


**Disappointed that nobody thought about Reigen actually meeting Mob's parents I decided to make my own story.**

 **Since Mr. and Mrs. Kogeyama don't have names (yet), I gave them some. But it's just a headcanon that can be proved wrong in the future, so keep that in mind.**

 **Dinner with Kageyamas**

From their first meeting Reigen suspected there had to be something wrong with Mob's home life. After all, kids can reach that level of delusion if they try to cope with bad things happening in the family. So Reigen was wondering what was that: Death of a loved one? Divorce? Abusive parents? Maybe something even more grim…?

Even when the self-proclaimed psychic learned that Mob really was an esper, the suspicion didn't go away. In fact, the more he was getting to know the kid, the more he was certain that boy wasn't happy at home. The thing that was most striking was that Shigeo (on his own, without any prompting and without adult supervision) came to the complete stranger just to talk about his powers. That meant there was no one in Kageyama household he could open up to. Part of it (and Reigen knew it, because Mob told him about it) was that apparently he was the only esper in the family, so there was this idea that his parents or sibling will never understand his situation… but there was also something more.

Reigen noticed it quickly – small smiles of hope, eyes shining with happiness whenever the boy was complemented, the unstoppable eagerness he was listening the older man's words. Mob was very naïve and trusting. It was… actually pretty scary, come to think of it. The kid could very easily fall under the influence of some cult or drug dealer, or someone else who would try to use his powers for his own gain (in fact, he kinda fell into it, when he came to Reigen, but in his defense, Reigen felt obliged to help the boy). This whole trust came from low self-esteem, and low self-esteem stemmed, again, from Mob's home environment.

And so Reigen listened to what his youngest client was saying about his family. There was this admiration for Mob's younger brother, Ritsu, who was better than him in "normal" things. There was a love for father, who was very forgivable towards Shigeo's powers manifesting randomly and making mess. And there was sadness that Mob was constantly disappointing his strict mother. After couple of talking sessions with the kid, Reigen had pretty good idea about what was the actual problem.

He knew some of it from autopsy. This overbearing pressure that parents could put on their offspring's shoulders. This model of perfect child that was imposed with disregard of said child's thoughts and feelings.

And considering that Mob had psychic powers… oh, boy, raising him had to be a challenge! But regardless of anything, the damage was done and the results were easy to deduce. Oh, Reigen was sure that Shigeo's parents loved him… in their own way. Nevertheless, the conman couldn't help, but feel sorry for this kid.

He wondered what to do with this. Was he supposed to meet with mister and mistress Kageyama and convince them to take a different approach at raising Mob? Or maybe just be his confident and help him feel good about himself? After all, parents never liked to be lectured by strangers about how they should raise their children. And Reigen could easily predict every counterargument Shigeo's mother would use. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if she forbid her son to come to Spirits and Such ever again.

But oh well… Reigen never lost an argument with any adult person. How this woman should be any more challenging than all those people he was arguing before? He was sure that once he tell her what's going on, she will see the reason. If not at first, then after further persuasion. And even if he won't convince her immediately, he would at least give her something to reconsider. He felt like he had to do something about it. He couldn't leave this like that.

But he had to approach it with care.

"Say, Mob," He began one day in the office, when Mob was doing something at the counter. "what do your parents think about you working here?"

"Oh…" The kid seemed surprised by the question, and Reigen could easily notice the sudden uneasiness in his movements. "They… I guess they don't mind it."

 _Don't mind it?_ Their child is hanging with a stranger and they don't mind it?! Was it because Mob didn't tell them a whole truth and they thought he finally made a friend his age? Or maybe he did tell them the whole truth, and they thought the presence of an adult esper will benefit him? Or maybe… or maybe… No, that would be horrible on so many levels…

"And they don't feel worried that half time job will jeopardize your classes?"

"A bit. But they make me do my homework sooner, so I will have time for work. They think this job will make me responsible."

"Oh, I see."

Well, at least they thought job was a good thing. According to Shigeo, anyway. Their real thoughts could be completely different than what boy suspected.

"Mob," He started again, straightening on his seat and clasping his hands together. "What would you say, if I invited your family to dinner?"

His employee immediately froze. After moment of silence he slowly put his gaze on Reigen and asked with a bit shaken voice:

"Why… would you want to do it?"

 _Oh, Mob…_ All of his being seemed to not like this idea at all. And this fact was screaming volumes about so many things. But the loudest was this: Mob didn't want his work life meet his home life, because he was afraid of what could come up from the clashing of these two worlds.

Reigen smiled to the boy.

"Do you trust me, Mob?"

"Yes, of course, master!" He said abruptly.

"Then believe me: everything will be fine." And once these words came out from his mouth, Reigen wasn't so sure about whenever they will turn out to be true or not.

"But why do you want to meet my family?" Shigeo asked again.

"I want to tell them how good of an employee you are." Reigen replied with another smile.

It wasn't a lie. He certainly wanted to tell Mob's parents how good kid they had (since it seemed that they didn't know it…). But it wasn't a whole truth either.

Mob looked a bit flattered.

"I will ask them, when I will come home." The boy said and went back to what he was doing previously.

Soon he left and Reigen was alone with his thoughts, waiting for the phone call from his young employee. He wondered how Mob's family will react to his invitation. Will they be surprised? Maybe. Will they think it's ridiculous? Probably, but they could also consider it beneficial (their kid was in grade school, after all, maybe his employer talking about him with his parents wasn't such a strange thing).

Will they refuse?

Will they agree?

Maybe they were as curious of Reigen as he was of them. Maybe they would have some kind of suspicions regarding the man who was employing their under-age son.

 _I guess they don't mind it…_

 _They think this job will make me responsible._

Mister and mistress Kageyama… was it all just that?

The phone rang. Reigen quickly reached for it. As he suspected, it was Mob.

"Hello?" He began.

"Hello, master." The kid greeted him. "I've asked my parents if they wished to meet with you."

"And?" Reigen tried to hide his nervousness.

"They said yes." Mob replied and Reigen gave a sigh of relief, before the young esper added: "But _they_ want to invite _you_ to dinner. To our house."

"Really?" The man was truly surprised.

"Yes." Mob replied and Reigen could imagine his head nodding. "Mom says she actually wanted to invite you for a really long time."

"Really?" He replied.

"She wants to meet you in person. Dad too. Ritsu… not so much."

Well, this was an interesting turn of events. A dinner at home, nice. Reigen would be able to observe Kageyamas in their natural environment, see how Mob lived, maybe even notice something alarming.

"Master," The boy said suddenly. "are you sure it's a good idea?"

"Don't worry. It's just a dinner." _Just a dinner… to set some things straight with your parents._

There was a short moment of silence… one of those silences when someone said something and the other person wasn't so sure about it, but didn't know how to respond. Finally Mob replied:

"Yes, you probably right, master. There's no need to worry."

Mob told him to come next Saturday at 3 PM, they exchanged goodbyes and Reigen disconnected. So it was settled. He was going to a dinner with Kageyamas.

* * *

Funny… standing on their porch and waiting for someone to open the door, made him nervous. For the remaining days he was imagining various scenarios as to how this visit will turn out. Many times he was realizing that Mob's parents would be observing him too, maybe even judging him to see whenever he was a good influence or not. Right now, he was determined to make a good impression. That was why he brought flowers for mistress Kageyama, book on airplanes for mister Kageyama (Shigeo told Reigen that his dad was fascinated with airplanes) and chocolates for little brother.

Once the door had been opened by a plain looking man with a stubble and short, curly hair, Reigen put his most friendly smile. The man smiled too and said:

"Mister Arataka, I presume." He quickly greet his guest by bending a bit and introduced himself: "Hiro Kageyama. Please," He moved aside. "come in."

"Thank you." Reigen smiled again and entered Kageyama household.

Once he got there, a woman in apron came out from the kitchen and gave him a polite smile. She was plain looking too, but Reigen noticed something interesting about her and her husband's appearances. They both had the same big, dull eyes on round faces… just like their son.

Speaking of sons, Shigeo and Ritsu came out to see him, and Reigen was taken aback by cold glare from Mob's younger brother. Oh, yes, this kid didn't like him and was suspicious of him. Hopefully chocolates will warm him up a little.

The whole family was very elegant. Even Mob put on a nice little suit that was probably reserved for visits.

"Good afternoon, mistress Kageyama." Reigen greeted her, bending his head and then gave his hostess flowers. "These are for you."

"Why, thank you, mister Arataka." The woman took flowers with a smile and added: "My name is Ino. Please have a seat in the living room." And then she came back to the kitchen.

Reigen gave his gifts to the rest of the family (mister Kageyama was pleased with the book, while Ritsu… Ritsu still looked at his guest like he was going to murder him), he took off his shoes and got into the living room. While Ino was putting flowers into the vase, Hiro, Reigen and boys sat on the couch and started to talk.

"So," Mob's father began. "I've heard that you're running a paranormal business. How it's like?"

He seemed polite, but Reigen could sense a genuine curiosity from him. And why wouldn't he be interested in what Reigen was doing? After all, it was a place when his son was working. The self-proclaimed psychic tried to determine if there was any animosity; if Hiro Kageyama thought that Reigen was fake. But no – there was nothing like that.

Apparently Reigen was silent for too long, because Mob decided to answer for him.

"People are coming to master with problems, tell him about spirits bothering them and then we exorcise them."

He said it with so much pride, Reigen couldn't help but smile.

"You're exorcising spirits too, Shigeo?" Asked mister Kageyama.

"Not all." Reigen decided to took the initiative. "I deal with most of clients, but occasionally Shigeo helps me out. He needs practice to feel comfortable with his powers."

For a moment Hiro wasn't saying anything, he was just observing Reigen with expression of deep thought. And then he smiled and replied:

"Well, at least there's finally some use from them."

He probably meant well. Probably in his mind those words sounded better, more uplifting. He probably will realize what he just said some time in the future. Nevertheless, he said it and unwillingly suggested that, until now, his son's powers were useless at best, and a nightmare at worst. And once Reigen looked at Mob, he noticed a shadow of sadness that quickly turned into forced smile.

Raigen looked back on Hiro.

"Maybe you would like to accompany us someday?" Mister Kageyama gave him a surprised look and his guest continued: "You would see your son in action."

"Master…" Mob began, a bit concerned, but Reigen went on:

"It's actually pretty amazing, really, what he can do."

The man noticed Ritsu giving him another distrustful look. Father, on the other hand, was wondering about something again, before he smiled lightly and replied:

"I guess, it is amazing. From… certain point of view." He smiled a bit wider. "I'm happy that Shigeo has someone who can help him."

"Dinner's ready!" Ino called from the kitchen.

All four men sat at the table, where there was already five dishes prepared. Soon Mob's mother came out with takoyaki, put it in the middle of the table and sat beside her husband. For the next few minutes Reigen was trying to amuse his hosts by telling them a story about one of their latest cases. He also tried to give mister and mistress Kageyama good impression about their son – he was praising Mob's quick and efficient way of dealing with a spirit and even added some colorful metaphors to show him in a good light. He painted them the picture of a hard working, reliable, talented and – to some extend – badass employee. If this won't give them some food for thought, Reigen didn't know what would.

Everything seemed to be going pretty well. Everyone looked relaxed, there was a nice, warm atmosphere… but suddenly Mob's spoon bent down and its content landed on boy's lap, staining the pants of his nice suit. Reigen didn't have to wait for boy's mother to react.

"Oh, Shige…" She looked at her son like he peed himself in public. Mob on the other hand blushed from embarrassment and didn't say anything. His mother stood up and said to her guest with an apologetic smile: "I'm sorry, mister Ataraka. We will come back shortly. Come, Shige." She pointed the corridor with her eyes and the boy just stood up.

Reigen observed as Mob followed his mother to place that was probably a bathroom. The man's imagination gave him pictures of Ino quietly scolding her child for acting weird around the guest. And once again he felt sad for Mob. Especially because he suspected that the whole bending spoon happened because the kid wasn't used to complements, so he felt both awkwardly happy and embarrassed by them.

"He sometimes does that." Hiro said with a smile. "But it's nothing, really."

"Did you ever accidentally bend a spoon, mister Reigen?" Ritsu asked suddenly, _still_ looking at the guest with suspicion.

Reigen got a feeling that little brat was trying to catch him on lying. So the conman did what he was good at.

"Oh, I've bent lots of spoons in my youth. It's actually pretty normal thing for psychics."

"That's good to know." Hiro smiled and came back to eating.

And soon Mob and Ino came back too, and sat again at the table. For the rest of the dinner mister and mistress Kageyama decided to entertain their guest with few jokes and anecdotes they considered funny. As much as some of them really were hilarious, Reigen couldn't help but look at Mob from time to time and noticing he was just slowly eating his takoyaki without even gazing at the talking adults. And so Reigen formed a backup plan.

After dinner he offered himself to assist Ino with the dishes. At first she was saying, she will be fine, and even called her husband for help, but Reigen insisted, since there was something he wished to talk about with her. Hearing this, she tensed a little, but agreed nonetheless. Reigen put down the upper part of his suit, tackled sleeves of his shirt and started to wash the dishes. There was this awkward silence between him and his hostess, but she quickly decided to cut it.

"Sometimes I don't know what to do with Shige. Psychic powers… this is not something you can get prepared for."

"I'm sure other kids do it from time to time too." Reigen replied and Ino gave him weird look.

"Maybe you grew up, surrounded by espers, mister Ataraka, so for you bending spoons is normal. But for me it's not. I'm sorry if it will sound insensitive, but for someone like me, having esper child is difficult."

Reigen stopped washing the dishes and looked at her.

"Mistress Kageyama," he began. "maybe you should stop thinking about Shigeo like some kind of oddity, and notice that he is, in fact, a normal kid." She stared at him with silence, probably wondering where he's going with this, so he continued: "What happened today was as normal as you can imagine. A child got dirty during eating. Every mother will tell you that kids are sometimes messy."

"Yes, but not every mother can say that it happens, because her son can bend spoon with his mind." Was Ino's reply and she barely managed to restrain her irritation. Then she gave a soft sigh and continue: "I'm sorry, it's just… hard."

This was the moment when he really needed to handle it with care. He had to approach her without judgment.

"I won't try to pretend I know how it's like to be a mother of an esper. But I do know how it's like to be a little boy."

Now she was the one, who stopped washing the dishes and gave her full attention on her companion.

"Your son isn't an alien, mistress Kageyama." Reigen went on. "He might bend spoons and make things around him float… but, at the end of the day, he's just a kid. A kid that can be happy, scared, sad… He reacts to everything like any other person his age."

 _Especially a person, who is constantly compared to others… A person, who's almost all the time put down because of their awkwardness… A person who feels so much negativity from their own mother, they have to look for positivity in other places…_

The image of Mob sitting quietly during the dinner, ashamed of staining his pants flashed before Reigen's eyes. There was so many things he wished to tell this woman right now. To enlighten her in few harsh words about what she was actually doing to her son. But he didn't say any of those things, because he knew he would bring up unnecessary emotions that would cloud Ino's judgment. And he wanted to give her some clarity.

"Shigeo is a sweet kid. He wants to be a good person, but he feels out of place. Part of this is because he and all the people around him think of him as some kind of freak."

He gazed and Ino and noticed that she was listening him with interest.

"This is a problem espers face very often. Others see only their powers and forget that they are also people." Reigen concluded and came back to washing the dishes.

For a moment they were both working in silence, but then…

"I think this is enough washing for now." Ino said suddenly and left the dishes she was holding in the kitchen sink. "You have to be really bored, mister Arataka. Let's go back to the living room."

For the rest of the visit, until 7 PM, Reigen was sitting on the couch, talking with Kageyamas. He left Mob's house, wishing everybody good night and with the feeling of weird melancholy. On his way home, he hoped that at least some of his speech will stick with this woman; that he managed to make even a small difference in Mob's life. He wasn't delusional enough to think that Ino Kageyama will suddenly change her ways, but he wished that she will put his words into consideration and handle Mob with more care.

If not, well… Reigen was happy to continue being someone Mob could actually open up to.


End file.
